5 notes about politics
Eitan Haber discusses Obama’s decline, Bibi’s juggling act, and settlement freeze
1. Obama: To those who are happy to see the (apparently temporary) decline in the American president’s standing in US public opinion, we should say immediately: There is no reason to break into dance. The opposite may be true. The State of Israel’s special status among the nations of the world is derived from its special status in the White House. As ties between states are premised on interests, we see presidents and kings showing sympathy to Israeli leaders, because they’re an entry ticket into the Oval Office. Otherwise, who needs them?
2. Netanyahu: Just like a juggler in the circus, Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to throw 10 balls in the air and catch all of them. One ball for America, another one for the Palestinians, yet another one for angry members of Likud, one for the settlers, one to Labor, and more. One needs to be a magician to ensure that all balls make it home safely. Should he succeed, we’ll say that he is a super-statesman and super-politician. Should he fail, we’ll say he hasn’t changed since the last time he was in office.
3. Silvan: Vice Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom has become, over night, a hawk compared to his conduct and words in the past in an effort to counter Netanyahu. This is just so transparent and so far-fetched. This is precisely what gives politics a bad name.
4. Evacuation: An American acquaintance, who journalists like to refer to as a “senior diplomatic source,” explained to me last week how a global empire views the matter of the 200 or 300 apartments that we need to build quickly before the “settlement freeze” takes effect. For an empire (and the man believes that America still is,) 200 apartments are one building in Manhattan. For an American, this is not even a small issue.
5. Recycling: Ahead of the “settlement freeze,” newspaper headlines and “senior diplomatic sources” promise us all sorts of presents and surprises: Oman will open an embassy in Israel, so will Qatar, and even Morocco. Yes, even Morocco, how wonderful! In my view, it’s important to keep in mind (and everyone had already forgotten it) that we were already there 13-14 years ago: Oman had a diplomatic mission here, and so did Morocco. A few Israelis were traveling to Oman, while many were traveling to Morocco. We already had diplomatic relations with seven Arab states, yet all of it was cut off. Whose fault is it? Depends who you ask.
